India on Wednesday successfully test-fired nuclear-capable, surface-to-surface Agni-1 ballistic missile for its full range of 700 km from the Wheeler Island, off Odisha.

The single-stage, solid-propelled missile was launched by the personnel of the Strategic Forces Command at 8.15 a.m. from a road mobile launcher. The entire operation was supervised by Defence Research and Development Organisation's missile technologists, who described the mission as a success and said that all the objectives were met.

Soon after its launch, the home-grown missile splashed down near the pre-designated target area in the Bay of Bengal with a high degree of accuracy as the radars along the coast and naval ship located down range tracked its flight path and recorded the terminal event.

The 15-metre-tall missile was picked up from the production lot for conducting the test-firing as part of regular exercise for the SFC personnel. Agni-1 weighs 12 tonnes and is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead of one tonne. The missile was developed following the Kargil conflict after the defence services perceived the need for such a version and has already been inducted into the Army.

No one knows what will happen on 12-12-12. But the DRDO has a definite surprise to end the year of happenings with a high note. It has decided to carry out a user trial of its first missile in the most ambitious Agni series at 12.12.12 pm on 12-12-12. :balle:

Despite the warnings from the Mayan civilization that the world will come to an end on this day - already negated by NASA, while couples have planned to mingle on this date and expectant fathers and mothers are queuing up to ensure a unique birth-date for their children, the Strategic Forces Command (SFC) of the Indian Army is readying to score a success.

Sources said the SFC, a special wing of the army is busy in the preparation of test launching Agni-I missile from the Wheeler Island off the Odisha coast on Wednesday. The missile is being assembled and integrated with the launcher at the launching complex - IV.

This year India has already test-fired all the versions of Agni missiles including its longest range Agni-V, which has the capability to hit the target anywhere in Asia, Africa and Europe.

A defence official said though in July a user trial of Agni-I was conducted in deliverable condition, a coordination had been made to carry out this test in a war like situation. â€œThe missile will be launched in a real time situation. Preparation is in final stage. We have planned to launch it at 12.12.12. Every body is ecstatic about 12-12-12. Why not we? Letâ€™s see what happens,â€ he said.

The main objective of the mission is to train the user team to launch the missile. Agni-I missile has a specialised navigation system which ensures it reaches the target with a high degree of accuracy and precision.

Agni-I has a strike range of 700-900 km. Compared to its longer-range cousins, its height is just 15 metres and diameter is one meter. It is powered by both solid and liquid propellants, which imparts it a speed of 2.5 km per second. The missile weighs around 12 tonnes and can carry both conventional and nuclear payload of about 1000 kg.

Though earlier the DRDO had planned to go for the maiden test of its new generation sub-sonic cruise missile Nirbhay in December, no confirmation on the test has reached here so far. Nirbhay is a two-stage surface-to-surface missile and has an operational strike range of 1000 km and at flight, it is capable of delivering 24 different types of warheads.

However, the elite defence organization is working on to go for the first test of K-15 missile from a live submarine, next week. The missile has already been test fired successfully from Pontoon (replica of submarine) several times earlier.

The missile is likely to be test fired from a submarine off the Andhra Pradesh coast on December 17. Hectic preparation is on there by the naval wing. The DRDO is leaving no stone unturned for the successful launch of both Agni-I and K-15 missiles to end the year with a smile.

I thought, for manouvering we replaced all small motors with solid pro...in agnis ! Agni 3 only ? Or any other agnis ?

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with liquid motor it is easy to turn on and off those small motors to navigate and take anti BMD actions, solid fuel is not easy to control once ignited. (this is my understanding, i may be wrong on this)